Corpse Heralds
The''' Corpse Heralds''' are recognized by the mercenaries and of the Corpse as a neutral party. They are battlefield historians, tracking the rise and fall of warrior bands; are valued for their services in bringing mercenaries and clients together. History The first Corpse Herald was the explorer and adventurer Leslie Harris; a Follower of the Apocalypse from the distant Boneyard. Her assignment brought her to Texas, which she explored rather extensively before arriving at the Corpse. Leslie was appalled by what she considered the senseless waste of human life she witnessed there, appalled, but fascinated. She wasn't sure how, but she wanted to stop the chaos, and in the meantime, record events for posterity. Leslie did her best to identify the problems of the Corpse, that she might better devise a method of solving them. What she collated became known as the Action Plan: PREMISE *Why are the gangs of the Corpse fighting? **Because they are defending their territory and/or because they want employment as mercenaries. *How does the fighting in the Corpse improve their chances of finding employment? **It eliminates competition for employment, hones skills, and is a method of collecting supplies and talent between jobs. *What prevents a gang from being hired as mercenaries? **They cannot distinguish potential clients from potential rivals, potential clients cannot distinguish those seeking employment from raiders. SOLUTION *Identifiers: Colors, heraldry, logos, uniforms, etc. **A gang unified by the above can distinguish allies from enemies, and enemies from clients. Clients can identify gangs at sight and choose to hire a gang appropriate to their needs. *What keeps the system honest? How can Gang X trust that someone wearing their own identifiers is actually a member of Gang X and not a spy? How can Gang X trust that enemies wearing the identifiers of Gang Y actually represent Gang Y and aren't actually agent provocateurs from Gang Z? How can a potential client trust that the people wearing identifiers are actual members of reliable Gang X and not raiders or members of Gang Y seeking to take advantage of their reputation? **A neutral third party must track gangs and identifiers and make current information available to gangs and clients. CONCLUSION *An identifiable gang will either demonstrate reliability and be hired, or unreliability and lose out or be destroyed. More gangs will seek to be reliable, will subsequently be employed which will keep them out of the Corpse for extended periods of time. Gangs seeking to live in the Corpse will have to defend their territory less frequently because reliable gangs seeking employment will be gone and unreliable gangs will be dead. It was an extremely simplistic interpretation of what Leslie observed, as well as a simplistic explanation of the solution she had in mind. She knew she would have a hard time of it if she just approached random gangs and tried to persuade them one at a time, so she migrated to the Lexxx. In that floating market, she used her artistic prowess to make a reputation as a tattoo artist, and she would always talk about her ideas with her clients. Eventually, an interested party took her up on an offer to design a logo for the entire group to get tattooed with, and things began to take off. She began developing uniforms and banners as well, and eventually took on assistants to meet the demands of creation and organization, the Corpse Heralds coalesced into being. Activities & Interests The Corpse Heralds seek to subtly form the Corpse into some small semblance of order by separating the legitimate mercenaries from the raiders and crazies, and by streamlining the process of hiring mercenaries. They do this in the hope of eventually pairing reliable mercenaries with merchant houses and stable communities so that the Corpse will quiet down and the chaos will end. Additionally, they feel it important to keep a history of the whole process, especially if it could help prevent or resolve a similar state of affairs in the future. The Herald Ordinary sends out the Heralds Extraordinary to The Lexxx and throughout the Corpse to identify new "war bands," and to meet with their leaders to help them pick symbols and colors that help distinguish them from other groups. They also meet with travelers, especially merchant caravans around the Corpse and help them find mercenaries consistent with their needs. The Heralds Extraordinary are also considered reliable, neutral arbitrators when two or more warbands want to settle something without a battle. Membership The Corpse Heralds are few in number. Besides their leader, the Herald Ordinary; there are just over twenty Heralds Extraordinary. Every Herald is free to take on as many apprentices as they can manage, none usually manage more than three at a time. Apprentices aside, it's not uncommon for a Herald to travel with a group of friends; though others go alone. The Heralds don't actively recruit; the only real obstacle to joining is whether or not any current Heralds are willing to take on an apprentice. Category:Groups Category:Texas